Employee Spotlight: Meet Steven Rakestraw

Courtesy Photo | Meet Steven Rakestraw, a postal operation clerk with the USAG Wiesbaden Postal Service. Rakestraw has been a member of the community for over four years. (U.S. Army Photo)  

WIESBADEN, HESSEN, GERMANY

03.10.2026

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden   

Meet Steven Rakestraw, a postal operation clerk at the USAG Wiesbaden Postal Service Center. Rakestraw has been a member of the community for over four years.

How long have you been part of the USAG Wiesbaden Community? / How long have you been with the post office? I've been in Germany for coming on fourteen years. It's been wonderful for me, mainly because I reconnected with the love of my life, whom I met 41 years ago, and that's why I came back to Germany. I started in Heidelberg in 2012, and that was when Heidelberg was closing, and then I got transferred to Kaiserslautern, and I worked there until I got picked up here at Wiesbaden four years ago. By far I love the Wiesbaden Garrison, it’s great.

Could you walk me through your typical workday? Every day starts with a team meeting. We get our assignments for the day while we're in the meeting, and we get news about the garrison and current events - things relevant to the post office and our operation specifically. Also, we meet new team members and bid farewell to those who are moving on. After the team meeting, we divide up and start either processing parcels or setting up for open-door operations like parcel pickup, finance, in and out processing, and official mail. That’s usually until lunchtime. We have a split lunch, which means someone has to cover for the window while the other person has gone to lunch. This is so that we can keep the windows open for the parcel pickup and finance, which is our outgoing mail. After lunch, we process parcels if we can, but we also have to contend with the delivery truck coming in. Now, the delivery truck is going to dictate the rest of the day. If there is a large delivery, then we are going to be spending the rest of the day and maybe part of the next morning, getting the mail sorted into its appropriate areas, so that can take us right up until the close of business, end of day.

What's something you wish the community knew about your job? It's really hard to see from outside the building what is going on behind those lockers. And the sheer numbers of first-class mail and parcels that come through, I think, would be a surprise to many people within the garrison. Now, we're fortunate enough to have people who come in sometimes that are assigned to us, (such as volunteers) which is very occasional. However, we are pushing the mail for well over 7,000, almost 7,500 mail receptacles and smart lockers. So it's a lot of stuff moving, and it's a dance; it's a coordination that we have to do. Unless a person could see it and could actually get behind the scenes and observe the operations, they won’t understand. I think it would boggle their mind if they did see it. There are a lot of moving parts. So that is the main thing that I think would surprise people, is just the magnitude of what goes on inside the post office.

What do you enjoy most about your job? Oh, that's easy. I love customer service. That’s my thing, and I enjoy the parcel pickup, uniting customers with their treasures. That is like the best thing in the world. You know, a box from Grandma at Christmas or a car part that they needed. This is a wonderful feeling for me, and I really get a kick out of that. On the other side, with the finance window, a lot of questions come in, and I tend to catch people before they start looking around for the question to ask them, “Hey, do you need something? Is there something here?” It’s part of my makeup that I want to reach out and help those who find the process difficult and make it easier for them, because then they go away, and they don't feel like it's a chore or something they had to fight through.

Is there anything else you’d like to say? Well, the only thing I would really suggest is that for those who are confounded by why the post office doesn't work the way they perceive it should work, it would be great if they would come in and volunteer. It doesn't take long, not even an hour or a couple of hours. We appreciate every hand that can come in and assist us. If I can encourage someone to come behind the scenes, see what it's really like, get the understanding of it, and then be able to appreciate that and share that with others, that would be great. Other volunteers in the past have done this as well. I think the main thing I would wish, is for the community to come see what postal operations is like, because I was amazed when I first got here. After all, this is a big post office, and I really think that the community should be proud of what they have here with us.

-- Courtesy contribution by Lavender Pate, a Career Practicum Placement student at Wiesbaden High School, working with the Garrison Public Affairs Office.

• Date Taken: 03.10.2026
• Date Posted: 03.11.2026 06:08
• Story ID: 560262
• Location: WIESBADEN, HESSEN, DE